Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman announced today that the Kansas Department of Agriculture will move the majority of its offices to Manhattan in summer 2014.

A constitutional agency, KDA will maintain its main administrative office in Topeka but will move the majority of its programs to Manhattan, where Rodman said the agency can capitalize on synergies with Kansas State University (K-State) as well as with other agricultural and bio-science entities located in Manhattan. In addition, the department will maintain current field offices in Stafford, Stockton, Parsons and Garden City. The department’s current lease ends Sept. 30, 2013, but KDA is in the process of extending the lease at the current location through June 30, 2014.

The department’s new building, which will be built by the KSU Foundation, will complement the K-State 2025 master plan to enhance the research corridor. Secretary Rodman said the new facility will afford the department the opportunity to work closely with many nationally and even globally recognized and trusted subject matter experts on scientific and economic research.